Fear is the Enemy
by MidnightApproaches
Summary: Created by a friend and I as a joke at first, it became a full fledged story. Two OC characters. The ship is heading to a nearby planet for diplomatic discussions when panic strikes the entire ship.
1. Chapter 1

Stardate 2267

It was a regular day on the Starship Enterprise. The ship was in destination of Corinth 5 for a diplomatic meeting that Starfleet had called Capt. Kirk to preside over, since previous discussions had ended terribly. There was little detail as to why the discussions had ended poorly, but their mission was to establish a friendly diplomatic relation. They were five days away from their destination and some were taking the pressure of a peace-making mission harder than others.

"You can't eat," Kirsash chided her friend.

"But I want to…." Veron whined in response. She stared at the food in Kirsash's plate, looking enviously at it. She tried to snatch a piece of fish from the edge of the plate, but Kirsash swatted her hand away with her quick reflexes. "That's mean!"

"Don't be childish. You know the food wouldn't do well for your system. Besides, you need to be in top shape for Corinth."

"I'm probably not going to go. Please?"

The two young officers made for a very odd pair. The oddest of the two at first glance was Kirsash, a Felixian that had joined the crew a year ago when she had been found stranded on the deserted planet Vigo. Her past was filled with secrets that seemed to be known only to the Captain and Veron, but due to her extensive knowledge on diplomatic relations, the crew had readily accepted her as the chief officer in that field. For some of the crew, it had been difficult because as a Felixian, Kirsash was a cat-like humanoid. Her black and white striped fur was offset by her vivid green eyes which seemed to see everything and terrified some of the officers less exposed to non-Terrans. The only other off-putting features were her tail, which was not long for a Felixian but did seem to get in the way of the crew at times, and her ears, cat-like and located on top of her head. Some of the younger officers found it creepy that she seemed to know when people were entering the room, but it was simply that she could hear them coming.

Veronica Carter might have seemed to be a normal crew member with odd blue hair, but in fact she was an android. It had been about three months since her body had been destroyed in a scientific mission that had been ambushed; her brain had survived intact, so McCoy and Scotty had decided to give their latest project, the E.L.A.N.I. unit, a chance to save Veron. It had been a pet project of Scotty's, an advanced weapons droid but was modified in production to accommodate Veron's mind. They had placed her brain in the E.L.A.N.I. unit and it had been a success. Most of the crew was unaware of this, but Veron had been an android ever since. Her system was a complex assimilation with the main components being life support (for her brain), hydraulic pumps – especially to chemically replicate emotions – and a mini warp core that powered her new body. She had none of her original internal organs – save her brain – which was also the reason why Kirsash was denying her food since it would probably end up in her ventilation system. There were only two things her system couldn't stand, and they were food and submersion in liquid.

"You will most likely go to Corinth. Diplomatic relations have been on edge since the last mission. The Captain would be a fool not to bring you along as a safety precaution."

"I must agree with you, Ms. Solaris," A monotone voice added to the conversation. It took Kirsash a moment to realize that she was the one being addressed. She still wasn't used to her last name, as it had been given to her by Dr. McCoy. Her species simply did not have last names.

The owner of the voice, Spock, stood just to Kirsash's right, with McCoy standing right behind him. Spock seemed to be pleased by Kirsash's analysis, but she was never sure of him. His reactions weren't difficult for her to read, but they were so rare that she wasn't always sure of what she saw.

"Thank you Mr. Spock. I do believe that we will be able to make progress with the relations this time."

"If they don't attack us first," Veron whispered to the table, but only loud enough for Kirsash's keen hearing to pick up.

"Cheerful thought," Kirsash grimly whispered back. She directed the next sentence to Spock, "I do think, however, that we will have to tread carefully."

"Agreed. Excuse me, I must head to the deck." Spock made a slight bow and then walked away. McCoy approached Kirsash, sitting to her left. He ears shifted so that they could fully face him

"How have you been adjusting to the ship?" McCoy asked. Kirsash was used to his seemingly innocent questions by now. Since he was in charge of the health of everyone on board the ship, including mental, he regularly checked in on her since she hadn't undergone the same training that the other crew members had taken before the five year mission. He seemed to think that Kirsash was going to snap at any minute and "have a mental breakdown" as Veron had so eloquently said, which amused Kirsash to no end.

"Very well, I believe. I miss the greenery plants once in awhile, but everyone has been very accepting of my… appearance, so I would say everything is going well."

"That's good to hear. You should be due for a check-up soon, so before we arrive at Corinth, come see me."

"Well, I'm free this afternoon, so I'll be there once I've finished lunch."

"Perfect." McCoy smiled to her as he stood, a genuine one that he always had for Kirsash. Every time she saw it, it shocked her. 'Shows how little kindness you've had in your life," Kirsash thought bitterly. But she pushed that thought to the side and turned her entire head to the left as she watched McCoy walk out of the mess hall. Veron, always one to use an opportunity, chose this moment to steal a piece of fish and eat it.

Kirsash's ears flipped back as she heard Veron doing something stupid and turned just in time to see her swallow the piece of fish and start to choke.

"Spit it out! Spit it out right now!" Kirsash yelled at her, but Veron was incapable. The food was already in the pipes. Kirsash took out her communicator. "McCoy, this is Kirsash. Your idiot of an android is choking." She knew she could have just run to get him, but she didn't want to leave Veron by herself.

"Oh for fu… I'm not an engineer! If nothing's wrong with her brain, don't call me." McCoy hung up and Kirsash stared at the comm in shock. A shiver ran through her body and her fur started to rise in irritation.

Veron, from the table, was able to choke out, "Dad, you're an ass."

"What? Never mind," Kirsash quickly called Scotty. "Scotty, Veron is choking on some food that she stole from me…"

Kirsash pulled the comm away from her face as her sensitive ears flipped back to reduce the pain that the string of curses created as they barged out and could be heard by the entire mess hall. He calmed down enough to tell her, "I'll be righ' there. Try to keep her from panicking, because honestly, she doesn't need to breathe, but if she panics, the food gets deeper in her pipes."

Kirsash shut-off the comm and sat by Veron, patting her back and purring like the healers had done on her planet, hoping that would calm her down. Her tried calming herself but the ringing in her eyes from all the recent yelling was too distracting.

While this strange scene had occurred, the rest of the mess hall had continued to eat because both of them were so odd that this was just a par for the course. Neither of them was out cold or bleeding, so there was no need to go to their aid…. yet.

Scotty arrived quickly and dragged Veron with him to the engineering deck, looking more than annoyed at his creation. Kirsash knew that Veron was in good, if angry, hands, so instead of following her friend, she headed to the medical bay to have a few words with McCoy and get her check-up.


	2. Chapter 2

Kirsash entered the medical bay and gave the most piercing glare she could to the Doctor's turned back. This was easily done as her pupils always disliked the bright lights of the med bay and she was forced to squint; she just added anger to it. When he finally turned around, he jumped back, almost dropping the equipment in his hands. She almost felt bad for scaring him. Almost.

"Don't do that!" He held his chest as if he was having heart trouble, but Kirsash knew he was perfectly healthy, therefore exaggerating, so she just rolled her eyes and approached one of the sick beds.

"Do what?" she asked innocently, but there was a bite to question.

"Sneak up on me like that. At least make a little noise when you walk."

"That would be quite hard for me to do. My nature drives me to be silent, ready to attack, not make as much noise as possible, like Terrans." She resisted the urge to smile, enjoying their banter and still not having forgiven him for having yelled at her..

"At least I don't scare people to death. And what was that face for?" McCoy approached Kirsash slowly, probably already very aware from the way she was glaring at him of having done something wrong.

"I don't take rudeness kindly," Kirsash responded bitingly before she lied down flat on her back to take her medical exam.

"Well excuse me, your highness," McCoy responded in a mocking tone. Kirsash knew that it was just a Terran expression, a quip at her, but nevertheless, Kirsash stiffened. No one yet knew of her true birthright, and although she made sure to keep her past a secret, she was constantly afraid of people discovering the truth. McCoy noticed Kirsash tense her body and tried to relieve her by patting her head. "I was only teasing."

Kirsash relaxed slightly, but it took her a few more minutes to fully un-tense. "I knew that. I just..." she searched for an excuse that would explain her tensing, "don't like medical check-ups," she finished lamely.

McCoy smiled reassuringly, "Well, I can promise that this won't hurt, unless you need to get a hypo. So, let's get this show on the road."

Kirsash closed her eyes and willed herself to relax more so the bots and the Doctor could do their job.

* * *

"How many times? How many times have I told you 'Don't eat ANITHIN'!'" Scotty railed at Veron again. He had put E.L.A.N.I. on autopilot so that while he fixed her, he wouldn't get in the way of the hydraulic system. The unit would be recording everything while Veron was sleeping, so she would get an earful from Scotty when she woke up.

"It's not like ah don have anithin' else to due on this ship. Ah swea', yu are the most self-destru'tive android in existence." Scotty was still fuming, but as he concentrated on getting the piece of fish from the ventilation system, his angered calmed until he was silently fixing her. He frowned, staring at the complex machinery in front of him. A human that had become a robot; he always worried about how she was handling it psychologically. Not only was she a robot, she was an advanced weapons system. She seemed fine in the halls, at work and during McCoy's check ups but he still wondered if the change had bothered her at all.

He shook his head and went back to his task, avoiding the dull grey eyes of the Autopilot, watching him while he worked. He completed the repairs in record time and was just about to turn Veron back on when he was interrupted by someone calling his name from his office. Not wanting the E.L.A.N.I. unit to be discovered, he quickly went to see who was calling him. Once he entered his office, he closed the door and locked it behind him as nonchalantly as he could and turned to see a young officer, probably an ensign, in a blue uniform standing there. He thought she must have gotten lost to end up this far in engineering.

"Can Ah help ya'?"

The ensign nodded. "Yes. I was sent from the plant nursery because one of our machines that was taking care of one of our newest specimens seems to be malfunctioning and the plant has started screaming as a result."

Scotty raised an eyebrow. Those doctors were coming with crazier things every day. "Screamin'?"

"Yes, sir. We think it's panicking," The girl seemed to be more worried than usual for a simple plant, but Scotty shrugged it off. She was probably in charge of the specimen and so felt responsible for it.

"Ah'll see wha Ah can due." Scotty reassured her and patted her gently on the hand. He turned and grabbed his tools, thinking that he would come back quickly to re-awaken Veron later. How wrong he was.


	3. Chapter 3

"Well, you're the picture of health. You might want to train a little more in the gym, though. You're losing muscle mass," Dr. McCoy was reading her charts on the screen while Kirsash was putting her uniform back on after having had a full body scan. She was having difficulty figuring out which side of the dress was the front, but eventually saw the Starfleet symbol.

Kirsash paused in the middle of putting her yellow uniform on, then turned to look at the Doctor's back, "Are you saying that I'm fat?"

The doctor laughed at the question but quickly schooled his features before looking at Kirsash. He had thought that she would have already dressed herself, so he quickly turned back to his charts when he saw that she was not fully in her uniform yet. Not that her black under-dress was indecent, but he felt that he had just encroached on her privacy. Call it a Southern gentleman's habit. "No, this happens to everyone when they aren't used to space travel. You were living on a deserted planet and hunted everyday when we found you. You're not living the same life here."

Kirsash laughed at how silly her initial reaction had been and slipped the rest of her uniform on, "No, I guess I'm not. I will be sure to train tomorrow."

She was having difficulty slipping her tail back through the hole that she had cut into the back of her uniform because her damn tail kept moving out of her grasp. Finally, McCoy had enough of her struggling with her tail and went over to help her. He firmly grabbed her tail and slipped it through the dress, finding that once it was through, he was terribly close to Kirsash. Kirsash sensed his proximity and moved away quickly, nervous for a reason she couldn't understand.

Kirsash coughed and turned around, "May I go, Doctor?"

McCoy waved her away as he turned back to his screen. He had suddenly found the room a little warmer than before. "Yes, yes. You're fine. Go find your clumsy friend,"

Kirsash nodded and walked out, heading, albeit unwillingly, to the engineering deck while trying not to think about what had just happened in there. This was easy as the thought of being in engineering was starting to make her nervous. She strolled through the corridors and turned the corner to catch the lift, almost running into Scotty.

"Lass, you better watch yur step. Tha' could have been ugly." Scotty had placed his arm out and had caught Kirsash by the shoulder, preventing them from running into each other.

"Hardly, Mr. Scott," Kirsash smiled and noticed the young science officer, so was careful with her phrasing. "Is... Veron in engineering?"

Scotty nodded, "Yes, in the back. She's... sleeping. You know the code to get in."

Kirsash thanked him and entered the lift, shuddering at the thought of having to go into the back rooms of the engineering deck with the Autopilot, but she steeled herself. She would quickly wake up Veron and get out. She didn't want to be surrounded by that cold, dead technology for long.

* * *

Kirsash exited the lift and went straight for Scotty's office. She felt a greater sense of fear being near these machines than usual, but she ignored that thought, trying to get to Veron as fast as she could so that she could get out of there. She headed to the back door and had to put in the code twice because her fingers had started to tremble uncontrollably the first time she punched it in. She entered the room beyond, darker than the office, fueling her fear a bit more. Her fur started to rise all over her skin and it took all of her strength not to turn around immediately and run. She could see perfectly, clearly, but the change in brightness seemed to scare her in a way that she couldn't control. Kirsash shook her head and told herself that she was being, as the Terrans would say, "a big chicken".

Kirsash quickened her pace, trying to get to Veron as fast as she could. She didn't know why she was so afraid; the logical part of her mind told her that nothing was wrong, that she was scaring herself, but a larger and stronger part of her brain was screaming at her to run and hide like a kitten. She walked deeper within the machinery, getting more and more lost in her fear.

The Autopilot was still activated when it registered that there was a living being in the engineering room and seemed to be getting more and more lost within it. The unit rose up from the workbench and went to find the creature, help it find what it needed, and then escort it out of the room.

Kirsash by this time was panicking. The more she walked, the more lost she became. She could barely think through the haze of fear that had enveloped her mind. Her only thought, that repeated in her mind as a mantra, was that she had to get out, because it she didn't, she would die. She felt herself losing control of her breathing and when she started to see black spots in her sight, she realized she was hyperventilating. When it seemed to her that it couldn't get worse, the Autopilot found her.

Kirsash had always had a deep-seated, inexplicable fear of large and complex forms of technology. On a daily basis, she was able to deal with Veron normally because she knew that Veron's mind was in control, but not it was the Autopilot. The sight of the it's deadpan grey eyes scared Kirsash so deeply that something inside her snapped and she became wild. She sprang to her feet and attacked the android, claws out and ready to inflict as much damage as possible. The Autopilot caught the Felixian in mid air and kept her at arms length, so damage was only inflicted superficially to its arms. The artificial micro-cells that made up her skin immediately mended the tears and the robot didn't even flinch. Realizing that she could do no damage to her, Kirsash kicked at her with her back paws, eventually managing to wriggle out of the robot's grip. Landing on her feet, she quickly turned and ran as quickly as she could from it.

The Autopilot analyzed the behavior of the usually jovial Felixian and compared it to Veron's memory files. Concluding that there was something amiss, the unit pursued the fleeing target, ready to capture, restrain and then carry her kicking and screaming to the medical ward - as was the installed directive in such instances since the Autopilot was incapable of legitimate decision making. The floor plans of the ship were downloaded into her memory, so she was able to deduce where Kirsash had fled to and calculated a shortcut route through all the machinery to overtake her.

As she ran, Kirsash only focused on getting as far away from that machine as possible but in her fear, found herself trapped in a dead end. She turned around to backtrack, but the pursuer was already there. She prepared to pounce and rip at her face, but just as she tensed her back legs, the unit was standing right in front of her, a speed that should not have been possible. The android grabbed her by the waist, pinned her arms to the side and tossed her over her shoulder like a rag doll. Kirsash's fear kicked into overdrive and she tried every dirty trick she could think of to get out of the vice-like grip, but nothing phased the Autopilot. Kirsash felt herself hyperventilating again, and although she tried to stop it, everything went black.

As the Felixian lost consciousness, the Autopilot relaxed her grip and began her slow, steady march to the medical bay.


	4. Chapter 4

Veron woke up sitting in one of the chairs in the medical bay while Dr McCoy was fussing over an unconscious Kirsash. Veron could see him take a hypo away from her arm and brushed his gloved hands, probably because some fur got stuck. Still not being used to having system reboots, the android blinked a few times. Finally, she stood, confused. At her sudden movement, the doctor glanced at her. Seeing her eyes were back to a vibrant purple, her iris color for standard white light vision, he motioned her over. Veron made her way over to the bed, her memory banks replaying every moment that happened while she was asleep. She snorted as she recalled Scotty's rant, earning a quirked eyebrow from Dr. McCoy, who had obviously asked her to do something. He was removing his gloves, looking at her expectantly.

"What, Dad? Sorry, just replaying the tapes, you know how it is," She grinned sheepishly.

The doctor pinched the bridge of his nose and then threw out the gloves. "I won't even. I just asked you to take her back to her quarters so I can make more room for some other patients. It seems that a few other panic attacks such as these have been reported throughout the ship."

Veron nodded to Dr. McCoy and lifted Kirsash, carrying her out the door. Ever the graceful android, she had not taken into account Kirsash's height or the width of the doors; since she was holding her bridal style - because it was easiest to lift her off the bed that way - she ended up ramming Kirsash's head and legs into either side of the doorway.

"Uh... Oops," Veron exclaimed, quickly flipping Kirsash over her shoulder once more and continuing. She pretended not to hear McCoy's aggravated sigh. She called "See you later, Dad!" just before the automated doors slid shut.

McCoy stared at the electronic doors for a little while longer before chuckling darkly. "At least she didn't trip this time," he muttered. It wasn't long before he was called to treat a patient who was suffering from the same affliction. He scowled. Something wasn't right with these panic attacks. There were already two officers in the back room, and more were calling in from every sector of the ship. There were far too many panic attacks in such a short period of time for it to be a coincidence. He should have called one of the nurses to take over so that he could try to research what was wrong, but another two crew members had entered the medical bay. He squared his shoulders and went to try to calm them down.

Veron walked briskly down the halls towards Kirsash's quarters. At this point in time, even if she hadn't been an android, she'd have known the route like the back of her hand - her biological one, since the robotic one was still fairly new to her. Truthfully, her new body was much more practical for situations like this, since she could waltz down the ship's corridors with a fully grown Felixian thrown over her shoulder and not break a sweat.

Rounding the corner to take the lift, she stopped as the lift's doors snapped open to reveal Spock. Seeing her predicament, he stepped out of the lift and tilted his head imperceptibly. 0.78 degrees to the right, actually, Veron thought before facepalming herself mentally. She had to get used to computerized estimation.

Her attention went back to the Commander. "According to what I can recall from the Autopilot, she had a nasty panic attack in Engineering and I had to drag her to the med unit." He watched her walk into the lift, his line of vision following her curiously as she continued. "Da- uh, I mean Dr. McCoy told me to take her back to her quarters because there were a lot of other similar cases calling in." She pressed the button of her desired deck. "You should probably check up on it," she added as the doors shut, hoping that he would, even if only out of curiosity.

Since Kirsash was the head of Diplomatic Relations - and since the previous officer had been transferred prior to launch - her personal quarters were located relatively near the bridge. She took the lift to the A deck, adjusting Kirsash's limp form a little. Veron absent mindedly scratched Kirsash's head, smiling slightly when a soft purr started growing from her friend's throat. When she finally reached Kirsash's quarters - yes, quarters, not cabin - she plopped the Felixian unceremoniously onto her bed before settling herself at the table in the sitting room, waiting for her to wake up.

She took in the luxurious living space that Kirsash now called home. She smiled wistfully. She remembered the cabins that had once been her home. She would have killed for a place like this, metaphorically speaking, of course. Being an ensign before becoming the primary weapons unit of the ship, Veron used to live in a cabin with another science ensign. Since she was now an android - one whose means of production and existence were classified - she currently resided deep in Engineering, in the back workshops where she had been 'born' and was repaired regularly. Once in awhile, she would come and sleep in Kirsash's quarters if she was feeling lonely, but she tried to keep that to a minimum. Friendship was nice, but decorum was more important.

Eventually, after a good half an hour of waiting, Veron got bored and decided to bother Scotty. For some reason, he hated it when she called him 'Mom', although the term was technically accurate since he was the one who had crafted her body. McCoy, who had performed the operation and kept her 'alive' for the month of modifications prior to her rebirth was 'Dad' because he had transferred her brain into her new body. He never rebuked her for calling him that although he did give her a funny look sometimes. Even Spock agreed with her skewed point of view. Or, she assumed he agreed; he never contradicted her anyway.

"Hey Mom! What are you up to?" Veron asked once she was able to connect to his comm. unit. It might have looked weird that she was talking to her wrist, but that's where Scotty had placed her comm. There was no answer though, only a bunch of static and the occasional frantic yell in the background. Veron frowned. "Mom? Mooooommmmm? Mom Mom Mom Mom... Hello?" The line went dead. She growled in frustration and contacted McCoy instead.

"Dad, Mom's not answering his comm.!" Veron yelled into the comm. and then waited patiently. There was a bit of a fuss and a couple of bangs on the other end as the comm. was obviously dropped.

"E.L.A.N.I.!" Uh oh. Dad only called her that when she was in trouble. "Is now the right time!?"

"What do you mean is now the right time? Mom's gone missing! What if the Enterprise explodes? I mean, what'll we do without him? What'll the warp core do without him?" She reasoned.

"There's so many patients here! I don't know what's causing it or where they're all coming from! I feel like I'll be the one to panic next!" He yelled. Veron instinctively flinched at the force of his voice, but then scowled because in reality it wasn't really that loud. The panic did worry her though.

"Don't worry, Dad! I sent Spock down there to check on you. Sort of."

"You what?" She could hear the door slide open in the background and some people yelling. "Oh fu-" There was a string of curses and his line went dead too.

"So much for loving parents," Veron muttered. She thought about going to help McCoy but thought it might be better to go find Scotty. He hadn't responded to her call and that worried her. She checked to make sure that Kirsash hadn't moved,

She held her hands up, palms out towards the sleeping form of her friend while whispering "Stay." After a few moments had passed and Kirsash showed no signs of moving she added "Good kitty," before leaving the room. She locked the door behind her, thinking that it would be best to isolate her friend as much as possible before they knew what had happened to her.

Before she went on her search, she decided to do an infrared sweep of the ship, find the main clusters of people so that she could find Scotty more easily. Her eyes switched to red and after a quick sweep, realized that a large number of people were in the medical bay. No wonder McCoy had been rude to her. She looked through the science decks and found that six people were in the plant nursery. She thought that was as good a place to start as any.


	5. Chapter 5

Veron knew she was in the right place because she could hear a screaming Scottish brogue that belonged to only one person. She also heard an unearthly scream from the other side of the door and wondering what could be making that sound, she walked into the plant nursery and was greeted by a sight of chaos that she hadn't seen since the day that her human body had died. Five younger ensigns were cowering behind Scotty, who was lashing out at all the plants in fear. One of the plants seemed to be the origin of the screaming. Knowing that if she didn't control her creator, he would eventually hurt one of the ensigns, she decided to get his attention.

"Mom!" She yelled. He didn't even chastise her for the obnoxious nickname - that was how she was certain that something was terribly wrong. He didn't even seem to notice her presence at all. He went to throw a monkey wrench at the screaming plant to silence it for good and in the split second before he released the tool, Veron dove across the room and tackled him to the floor. That was some 286 pounds of solid duranium slamming into flesh and blood, so she shouldn't have been surprised that she heard a few snaps when they hit the deck. Scotty was out cold from the impact alone.

"Mom? Mom?! Shit, I killed him!" Veron exclaimed. Then she took notice of the ensigns cowering in the corner. "Follow me. You need to go to the medical bay."

The ensigns nodded minutely, still in shock over what their fellow crew member had done and also that she had called their Chief Engineer "Mom". Veron picked up Scotty gently, making sure to move him as little as possible so that no more damage would be done to his body. She realized that there was no more sounds in the room, except for the quiet breathing of Scotty and the staccato breaths of the ensigns. She looked at the plant that had been screaming earlier and it was now silent, pleasantly waving back and forth. Veron knew that something was up, but she was more worried about Scotty then the plant at the moment. However, when they left the room, Veron made one the ensigns, the youngest woman, lock the door. She would see what was wrong later.

* * *

Spock had entered the medical bay and took in the events around him with a face of studied calm. Many of the crew that weren't on the sick beds were sitting on chairs or directly on the floor. They all seemed to be in different states of fear. Some were rocking back and forth, others muttered to themselves. Some were crying silently. Those that seemed to be taking a more violent turn were those on the sick beds, whom had been tied down so that they wouldn't hurt anyone.

One of the crew members sitting on the floor looked to him when he entered and started to scream. She seemed to be absolutely terrified of him. He took a step back as if to exit, but Dr. McCoy, entering from the back room, spewed a string of curses until he got to the patient, injected a sedative into her arm with one of the hypos.

Dr. McCoy turned to face Spock and the second in command could see that the Doctor was doing everything in his power to stay calm. Panic could be seen creeping into his face at times but he seemed to be fighting it off.

"For God's sakes man, tell me you know what's going on. And don't scare them." McCoy rounded on Spock.

"It seems that the crew is undergoing a fear-induced panic attack."

"Tell me something I don't know." McCoy bit back sarcastically.

"No, I need you to inform me of the situation. What has occurred?" Spock needed more information if he would be able to do anything about this madness.

"Well, the first case was about an hour ago. Ms. Solaris was carried in here by the E.L.A.N.I. unit, out cold. I ran a full scan on her body and found nothing really out of the ordinary, except that her androstadianone levels were incredibly high. I gave her a sedative and had the unit bring her back to her quarters. I thought that waking up in familiar surroundings might keep her calm. The incredible thing is that not a half hour before the E.L.A.N.I. unit carried her in, I had done a full medical on her and she was perfectly healthy," McCoy explained.

Just then, the door opened, revealing Veron, who was carrying an unconscious Scotty, followed by five ensigns that seemed to be on the verge of panicking, screaming, bursting into tears, or doing all three at the same time. Veron looked at Dr. McCoy apologetically, "Dad... I, uh, I broke Mom."

"You what?!" McCoy shouted. He ran a hand through his hair, which Spock noticed was ungloved, thoroughly ruffling it and made him follow her to one of the back rooms so that she could place Scotty on one of the last sick beds. Spock knew that as a doctor, he should not have been ungloved, but he pushed the thought to the side to focus on more important matters.

Spock wanted more information and knew that he would not be able to find anymore in the medical bay. Too many people were panicking and he couldn't concentrate. Just then, Veron reentered the room, looking sheepish.

"I didn't mean to hurt him, but I had to stop him from hurting everyone else," she explained.

Spock gave a minute nod. "It was the logical and correct action to take. You brought Ms. Solaris back to her quarters, correct?"

Veron nodded, unperturbed by Spock's quick change in conversation topic.

"Good. Bring me to her. I have some questions that she must answer immediately."

The leading science officer allowed Veron to lead him to the Felixian. A healthy being should not be undergoing panic attacks like the crew was going through. He needed answers.


	6. Chapter 6

Kirsash woke up from a terrible, nightmarish dream. She had been dressed as if for her own wedding and was being forced to walk down the aisle. She had no control over her body and as much as she tried to run away, her body kept moving forward. Just as she had reached the groom, she had fallen off the bed and woken up. Her body hurt everywhere, but most of all her head, and incredibly, her feet.

She heard two pairs of footsteps coming to her door and then three loud, sharp knocks. Kirsash slowly rose from the floor and typed in the code that would unlock the door, although she hadn't remembered locking it in the first place. The door slid open and Spock stood there, with Veron right behind him. Kirsash could read through the tense muscles around his eyes and mouth that he was worried, but she made no comment on that. Veron simply seemed to be interested in what was going on.

"Ms. Solaris, please forgive the intrusion, but there is something wrong with the crew. I need to know what it is and I have reasons to believe you are involved."

Kirsash was surprised but nodded and let them in, excusing herself only to get a wet towel so that she could wipe some of the perspiration from her face.

Kirsash walked back into what could be called her sitting room to find Veron sprawled all over her couch and Spock standing against one of the walls. He immediately started questioning her. "Do you remember anything before waking up in your bed? I need as much detail as you can give me"

Kirsash sat down and closed her eyes, trying to focus on anything of importance. "I was in the mess hall with Veron. I was having lunch. McCoy asked me to do a medical exam. I told him I would once I finished lunch. Veron stole some of my food from me, so I had to call Scotty to fix her. They left. I went to medical, took my physical exam and then left to go get Veron. I ran into Scotty on the way down to engineering."

Kirsash scrunched her face in concentration, "After that, it becomes a little fuzzy. I arrived in engineering and went to find Veron. From there, I just remember being afraid, no, terrified. I remember running and being trapped and then... Nothing."

Spock nodded and folded his hands behind his back, thinking over everything that he knew. "Veron, what happened in the lower engineering room?"

Veron sat up. "Well, I was in autopilot mode. I registered that a creature was in the room and they seemed to be lost, so I went to help them. I found Kirsash and she was, excuse my colloquialism, freaking out. When I approached her, she attacked me. I tried to subdue her, but she ran off. I found her in a dead end and caught her. I set off to carry her to medical and she almost immediately lost consciousness. ."

Spock looked slightly confused at Kirsash. "Why would you attack someone you consider a friend?"

Kirsash looked down, a little embarrassed, "If Veron was on autopilot, I understand why I did that. I am terrified of large pieces of technology. The engineering deck is unappealing to me at the best of times, so I probably felt threatened and attacked. Sorry about that," She added as she looked to her friend.

Veron smiled, "No worries. Didn't do anything to me." She showed her arms and sure enough, they were clear of all blemishes or cuts.

With the accounts from the two females, Spock was getting an idea of the cause of the wide-spread panic. It was definitely a fear-causing chemical, that was for sure. The Doctor had mentioned high androstadianone hormone levels in Kirsash went she had been asleep. He remembered the food that she had eaten and was sure that it would not have caused such a reaction, so it was something exterior.

"Did you make physical contact with any object while in engineering?"

Kirsash shook her head, "I don't think so. Just the touch pad so I could get in."

Spock thought about how this could be spreading. Something that fast was either airborne or... "Did you touch anyone?"

Kirsash blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Your skin. Did you, or anyone, make skin to skin contact?"

Kirsash sat back and thought, "I... don't believe so. Dr. McCoy didn't touch me during the physical, only the robots did." She thought a little harder and realization came to her face when she said, "Well, when I said I ran into Scotty, I meant it almost literally. He had to grab my shoulder to stop us from running into each other."

Spock nodded. He remember that McCoy had not been wearing gloves, nor had any of the patients in the medical bay, "Well, with this information, I am 98.4% sure that whatever this is, it is a fear-inducing chemical that has been spread through skin to skin contact. I must head to the upper deck, see what I can do for the Captain. I must request that you both to go to the medical bay and assist Dr. McCoy. Inject all the patients with a sedative, including the nurses and aid the Doctor so that he may find a cure."

Spock made to leave, but Veron called out, "Sir, I believe this situation might have been caused by a plant in the greenhouse."

"Are you positive of this hypothesis?" Spock asked urgently, although to anyone who hadn't spent time with him, he sounded perfectly calm.

"Nope. But it's the only lead we have - and I assure you I did not BS that one."

Spock made a slight nod, "Alright. We will go to the nursery and Ms. Solaris, go to the medical bay."

Before leaving the room with Veron, he turned to Kirsash again. "Above all else, don't let anyone touch your skin." With that, he left the room, followed by a determined Veron.

Kirsash took a deep breath and went to her closet, taking out the clothes that she had worn during her years on the marooned planet. She was thankful that she had kept them, since some of the longer robes would cover all of her body, stopping at the top of her neck so that her face could be free. Once in the loose clothes, she looked herself over. Her tail hurt in clothes that didn't give it freedom, but it was better than getting terrified again. She smiled to herself reassuringly and left her quarters, hoping that she would be able to help the Doctor find a cure.


	7. Chapter 7

"It is imperative that the plant is not destroyed, therefore you must contain it. If it can accomplish what I hypothesise, then we will send the specimen to Starfleet immediately. The results or further study may prove fruitful in understanding and controlling human emotions." Spock explained to Veron outside of the nursery.

"Okay, but if it attacks me, I'm tasing it straight to hell."

Spock sighed but agreed. Safety of the crew came before anything else. "Once you enter, I will lock the entranceway. This will reduce the possible damage that might occur to a minimal radius. Also, Veronica," she looked at his face, surprised that he had called her by her first name, "do not damage any of the other plants."

Veron wanted to roll her eyes, but simply nodded and prepared to enter the room. When the door slid shut with its hissing sound, she shifted to stun mode, getting ready to tase the plant if she needed to. Honestly, she felt a little silly. They sent her, the primary battle unit of the Enterprise and one of the most bizarre scientific anomalies in the known universe, to fight a silly plant from who knows what god-forsaken planet. Then again, she'd seen what it had done to her crewmates and she knew that if she still had her human body, then she would have been affected in the exact same way.

The plant was waving around just as she had left it. Veron's hand curled into a clawed grip and small bolts of lightning arced between her fingers. The plant stopped waving and stood bolt upright, sensing a disturbance in the air due to the electricity. It began its otherworldly wail and Veron lunged at it. The plant - much to the android's horror - hopped out of its pot and scurried under a desk, using it's roots to propel itself forward. Veron shrieked, tripped over a chair and scooted as far away from it as possible.

Spock was standing in front of the door listening to the chaos inside the greenhouse. At Veron's panicked scream, he deftly punched in the code and entered, curious as to how a plant was able to inflict an external chemical stimulus on an android - with a filtering system. He found her backed into a corner pointing at a seemingly random desk. The plant was nowhere to be found. Spock turned his questioning stare to the robot.

"Spock! What the hell- plants aren't supposed to MOVE!"

Oh. So that was what happened.

* * *

It took Spock and Veron over twenty minutes to catch the plant by cornering it and then throwing a sheet over it. In it's confusion, the plant had run into the wall and Spock caught it as it had bounced back. He carried it over to one of the empty glass greenhouses and placed it inside. Eventually, the plant wiggled out of the sheet and seemed to scuttle around the glass case, looking for an opening. When it realized it couldn't escape and that no harm would happen to it, it seemed to calm down, nor longer emitting that ungodly wail and going back to waving back and forth peacefully.

"Fascinating," Spock said .

"I'm going to kill it and then destroy the planet it came from," Veron said as she approached the case. Orange lighting was arcing between her fingers as she got closer. Sensing danger, the plant scurried away and bumped into the glass wall.

"Truly fascinating. It seems to sense and react to danger." Spock studied the plant closer, approaching the case. "And I doubt you could destroy the planet, you do not have the technological capabilities to do so."

"Not yet, I don't." Veron muttered darkly. "But I could still destroy that."

"I do not think that will be necessary."

"It's necessary for me to be able to sleep at night."

Spock straightened up and stood between Veron and the glass case. "Interesting point and potentially worthy of consideration, if you actually slept."

Veron wanted to make a witty comeback, but Spock turned away before she could. "The plant is contained now. I do not consider it being a threat to anyone for the time being. I must ask that you stand guard outside the door and allow no one to enter the premises."

"But..." Veron wanted to protest, since that thing creeped her out, but she saw the serious look on Spock face and simply nodded. They both left the room, Spock locking the door as he left. Before he headed to the lift to go to the bridge, he simply stated, "Do not destroy the plant," before he walked off.

Veron wanted to yell that nothing would stop her from doing so, but she knew that was childish, so she stood guard in front of the door, ready to stop anyone who would try to go in there. She still stuck her tongue out at Spock once he was far enough away to not notice.

* * *

By this time, Kirsash was already in the medical bay, slowly and surreptitiously injecting the panicked crew with sedatives. She had taken as many hypos as possible from one of the nurses tables and had slowly gone to all the patients, quietly sedating them so as to cause less fear. She had already been able to sedate one of the nurses; now all that was left was five more patients, a nurse, and then find a way to calm down Dr. McCoy enough for him to help her find a cure. She entered the next room and continued her mission when the last nurse noticed her when she had placed a hypo to one of the patients resting on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was close to hysterical. Kirsash knew that if she didn't calm her down immediately, the other patients might act up and eventually touch her, leading her to be no help to the crew. She put her hands to the side in a neutral position but also to reduce her chances of being touched. She made herself smaller, showing the nurse that she was not there to attack her.

"I'm here to help. Spock sent me to help you," she said soothingly, emphasizing the word 'help'.

"How are you helping? Have you killed them? I bet you have." The nurses hysteria seemed to be climbing higher and higher. This wouldn't have been a problem except that the rest of the patients were starting to react to her fear.

"Calm down, I just sedated them." Kirsash slowly slipped her hand into her clothes and surreptitiously took hold of one of the hypos she had placed in her pocket.

"Like Hell you did! I'm going to..." Kirsash made a decision to sedate her then. She knew that if she hadn't, the nurse might have attacked her. Kirsash did not want to see anyone hurt so as quickly as she could, she put her to sleep. She caught the nurse's limp form and placed her gently on the ground, but the damage had been done to the relative calm of the room. Kirsash heard the Doctor approach her and looked up to see his mask of composure cracking.

"I sedated her, as Spock has ordered me to do."

"That hob-goblin has no right to sedate my patients or staff!"

Kirsash ignored him and continued to sedate patients, which was a far more difficult task now that they were aware of what she was doing. "He is second in command, so if he considers the crew a danger to itself, then it is his decision to make."

Kirsash turned and faced the disturbed doctor, staring him down as she stood her ground. Eventually, McCoy looked away, backing down from her challenge. He looked so small and defeated, so scared, that Kirsash felt sorry for him.

"Come on, help me with this," she said as she offered the doctor a hypo. He accepted it and started helping.

Once the rest of the patients were sedated, Kirsash made McCoy sit in a chair next to the research computer so that he could help her but also because his legs had started to buckle. When he was seated, Kirsash looked into McCoy's eyes, making sure to keep a good distance from him. His pupils were dilated and his breathing was irregular, definitely fear. She needed to calm him down so that he could help her.

"Doctor, you need to calm down. Close your eyes and breathe deeply."

McCoy followed her instructions hesitantly, but after three minutes of steady breathing, he had managed to calm down somewhat. Kirsash took that as her cue to start questioning him.

"Do you know what could have caused this? Spock believes that it is a fear-inducing agent that is being spread by skin to skin contact."

McCoy nodded slowly, "That would make sense, but then there is nothing we can do about it. If it is a chemical that we haven't discovered yet, then we just have to wait it out." He sounded so defeated, the opposite of how he usually was, that Kirsash wanted to shake some sense into him, but she knew that would just increase his fear.

She took a steady breath and instead asked, "What if one of the crew panics and hurts someone? We need to find a way to stop the fear."

McCoy sat back in the chair and thought for a bit. "Something doesn't make sense. If it is being passed through touch, then the chemical is being absorbed through the skin. Chemicals can do that, of course, but it would take much longer to affect the brain and have the reaction that it has on the crew."

Kirsash remembered some of the basics of human physiology and had an idea. She looked up to McCoy's eyes. "Doctor, what if it was a hormone?"

The Doctor at first looked surprised and then seemed to go into a deep thought. "Theoretically, that is possible. And if that's true, we might be able to help the crew. But,..."

"But what?"

He looked at her, fear still clouding the corners of his eyes, "If we aren't careful with the dosing, the fear will increase."

Kirsash tilted her head in confusion, "Why?"

McCoy laughed darkly, "Have you heard of the saying, 'Too much of a good thing,'?" Kirsash shook her head. "It means that in large amounts, a good thing can be bad for ya, and in the case of dopamine, it's true. Up to a certain amount, dopamine causes happiness, but in large doses, and if it gets sent to the wrong part of your brain, you're livin' your own personal nightmare. Some of the crew might die from too much fear."

Kirsash sat back in her chair. She wanted to accept defeat, give up, but she knew that would leave the crew to the mercy of their own minds. "What if we were to administer small doses at a time?'

McCoy snorted and hung his head, placing it between his upraised palms, "That would take hours. The fear would have spread to the whole crew by then. It must be given to them in a liquid form and quickly, or we've shot the prized race dog."

At first, Kirsash felt confused as to why she would shoot a canine, but instead focused on stopping the fear. She racked her brain for any idea that could help. She felt like she was grasping at straws, when suddenly, an idea came to her mind. It was crazy, but it just might save the crew. "What if we use the sprinkler system? It would be in water, so if would be in a liquid form."

McCoy didn't move for a bit. He was so still, Kirsash thought he might have lost consciousness, but he finally rose his head and stared at her from beneath his bangs. "You're a genius," he simply stated.

Kirsash laughed, feeling heat rise to her face, "Hardly. But it would be the fastest way to administer the dose to the entire crew."

"We'll have to test out the doses on someone," said McCoy as he rose and went to the medical cabinets. He opened them and vials in every color were placed neatly stacked in rows. He reached for an empty hypo and then one of the vials that was under the major heading of 'Hormones'.

Kirsash started to pull up her sleeves, but McCoy shook his head. "You'll have to test it on me."

Kirsash jumped up and walked to him, natural fear coursing through her, "No! You're the doctor, test it on me."

McCoy shook his head and handed the hypo to Kirsash. She was careful not to touch his hand. "The fear has already gone through your system, so we wouldn't be able to tell and everyone else is sedated. No, I still have it in me and I will be able to communicate with you. You'll have to dose me."


	8. Chapter 8

Veron heard her comm. beep and answered it.

"This is the Sunshine Nursery, how may I help you?" She asked in the most perky voice she could muster. A terse reply from her Captain barked back, "Come to the bridge. Now."

Veron knew that Spock had told her to stand guard in front of the nursery, but this was her Captain giving her a direct order. She quickly scanned the floor to make sure that no one would try to get in, made sure the door was locked, then headed to the lift that would take her to the bridge.

Veron took a deep breath and walked onto the bridge. Upon entering, she took in the worn down appearances of her shipmates while she approached Kirk. The Captain looked worse for wear, pale, shallow breathing, a light sheen of sweat coating his face. He was trying to keep it together, along with the rest of the bridge crew, although some were managing better than others. Sulu's jaw was clenched and his knuckles were white on the controls, Uhura was shaking but managed to keep it together, keeping her gaze cool and level, obviously one of Spock's classic traits that she had learn from him. Chekov didn't have the same luck; he was curled under his workstation in a tight ball with his fists over his ears, muttering something in Russian.

"Pasha," she called softly. Chekov glanced up at the familiar nickname and seemed to brighten up. They were classmates at the academy, although he was two years her senior. Her familiar presence seemed to ease some of the emotional stress from the officer enough for him to straighten up slightly and nod to her.

"E.L.A.N.I.," Kirk muttered through gritted teeth, catching her attention. She turned and approached The Chair. "There have been reports of an approaching ship; are they correct?"

Her eyes flashed blue for a brief instance and past the monstrous glow of the Enterprise's core, she could see the tell-tale warp signature of a ship, most likely Corinthian if the ship was any indication. Reverting back to violet, she returned her gaze to the haggard Captain. "Yes sir."

"That is an unidentified rogue ship. Any attempt we've had to hail it has failed."

"Our ship's communication system is being compromised internally, sir, probably because someone panicked and hit the wrong buttons," Veron informed him. "They have just as likely tried to hail us as well."

Kirk looked even more agitated at that. "It must be the rogue ship jamming us. We can't contact Starfleet so I'm ordering you to attack that ship."

Veron blinked. "Um, it's a Corinthian ship, sir. Aren't we supposed to be discussing politics with them or something?"

"It's a rogue ship coming to destroy us in our darkest moments," The Captain growled, eyes clouded. "So we're going to apply the theory of preemptive strike. Attack. That. Ship."

Many of the bridge crew who decided to pay attention to the conversation were confused as to why the Captain was ordering the petite young woman with blue hair to destroy an incoming ship. In his deranged state, Kirk was forgetting that the topic was still highly classified. Veron gulped, trying her best to brush it off in front of the crew. Sulu's paranoid glare was currently trained on her and it was not making her comfortable given what his file claimed he was capable of. It wasn't much better that Chekov didn't know about it either, still thinking her to be the same brash, ambitious ensign from the academy - and she never could lie convincingly enough to fool him in the first place.

"I'm going to have to decline your offer-"

"It was not an offer, unit. It was an order." He rose to his feet, towering over her. She stepped away as he stepped forwards. "I'll ask you again: as your commanding officer and Captain I am ordering you to destroy that ship!" His breathing was heavy and his muscles were tense; he was at the end of his rope.

"Sir, why do you want Veron to attack the ship?" Sulu said, eyeing her suspiciously. He'd always been cautious around her since she changed her hair color upon becoming an android. As if he'd been keyed in enough to know something was up. "The Enterprise already has hull turrets."

"Don't question it, pilot!" Kirk snarled, whipping around. "She's not at all what she seems."

"Keptain, don't send her out there!" Chekov exclaimed from under his desk. "She'll die!" Oh Pasha, she thought. At least you tried. She no longer saw another way out of this one.

Kirk ignored the protests of the crew. "Unit, you had better get moving now!"

"Sir," Veron began calmly, glaring up at her Captain, "attacking that ship would undeniably start a war - the exact opposite of what we are here for. Therefore I cannot comply with that order - even from you. If you insist on enacting that order in your state of mind, I will be forced to incapacitate you, seeing as you're not currently fit to be captain."

"You-" Kirk began but was cut off once again by the android.

"Try me Captain. I dare you." She growled, eyes switching to a brilliant green - signifying her combat settings were on stun.

"Sulu, apprehend the unit."

Sulu didn't know what 'the unit' was but he assumed the Captain was talking about the glowering, mutinous ensign standing in front of him. He set the Enterprise on its cruise settings and whipped out his sword. Immediately, the android's glare was fixed upon it. He knew that her eyes were a different color than usual, and that scared him to his very core.

"Sit down, Sulu. I will crush that thing with my face." She snapped. Sulu hesitated, quite unsure of what he was dealing with. His eyes darted from her to Kirk and back. Finally he decided to try a swing anyways. To his horror, she caught it in one bare hand and, with a deft flick of her wrist, snapped it clean in half. He staggered away, astonished.

Without warning, Kirk tried to tackle E.L.A.N.I. from behind. He grappled with the unit, having taken her by surprise. At that opportunity, on his fear-induced adrenaline high, Sulu thrust the sword at her face. Arms pinned, she caught it in her teeth and crushed the remainder of the blade. She could hear Uhura scream in the background and Chekov yelling "Stop stop stop stop..." over and over again.

"Told you so," she said pointedly, freeing herself easily and throwing Kirk across the room. Sulu backed away from her in terror. She clicked her tongue sadly. "I really hope everyone forgets this because this is a really bad first impression." She dropped Sulu, tasing him unconscious in case he whipped out another sword; in his panic he might stab someone that was not her, which would be bad because they weren't robots. Turning away from him, she saw Kirk climb to his feet. He was about to yell something at her when suddenly Spock had him in a Vulcan nerve-pinch and he too hit the floor, out cold. Spock's gaze followed the Captain on his way down before snapping up to Veron and sharpening it to a glare. She held her hands up to him in mock surrender, her eyebrows raised at his rare show of emotion, no matter how brief.

"Everyone get back to your stations; it seems the Corinthians want to have their discussions earlier than planned." Spock ordered. Spock turned to Uhura, "Call Ms. Solaris to the warp room."

He then turned to Veron, "I order to you go to the holding cell and remain there. I will inform security that you are on the way. If you are not there in 20 minutes, I will be forced to shut you down."

And that was it. Everything came crashing down around her; everyone knew. She wasn't human and hadn't been for some time. She glanced around and took in the horrified stares of her peers. No, she wasn't human, but she was made to protect them and now that she had tried to protect them from themselves, they looked at her like she was a monster. She couldn't even meet Chekov's eyes.

Veron wanted to fight back, but she knew that Spock was only doing his job. She had blatantly ignored the Captain's orders, so instead of ignoring the Commander, she put on a stone mask, turned on her heels and went to the lift, resigning herself to her fate... for now.

* * *

About twenty minutes earlier, while Veron had been on her way up to the bridge, McCoy was lying on his bed, the shirt sleeve of his uniform rolled up. A tourniquet had been tightly wrapped around his upper arm, per his exact instructions, as Kirsash had no medical training whatsoever. In fact, what she was about to do was starting to scare her.

"What if I hurt you?"

"You won't. The hypo just pierces the skin. Just look for a vein."

"What if I miss the vein?"

The doctor closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Stop trying to panic me, the hormone is hard enough to fight."

"Right, sorry." Kirsash looked at his arm and took a steady breath. She looked at his arm for a blue line that would indicate a vein. He squeezed his hand, making the veins rise up to the surface of his skin. Taking the opportunity, Kirsash placed the hypo in the crook of his arm quickly and injected the first dose of dopamine. She couldn't help but notice that it was a very muscular arm. She berated herself for the distracting thoughts.

McCoy winced a bit at the piercing of the skin and then relaxed once he felt the liquid enter his body.

"Now what?" Kirsash asked when she removed the hypo from his skin.

"We wait 10 minutes," McCoy announced as he let his head rest on the pillow. Kirsash hadn't realized it, but a thin layer of sweat had built up on his forehead. She got up, went to his bathroom, and dampened a hand towel with cold water. She brought it back to the bed and pressed it gently to his forehead. McCoy closed his eyes and sighed in relief. "Thank you," he breathed out.

A small smile spread across Kirsash's face. "Of course. You saved my life, this is nothing in comparison."

McCoy shook his head, almost making the towel slide off his forehead. "It's my job. It's what I'm supposed to do." Kirsash waved that off.

"Yes, it's your job, but I had attacked one of your shipmates. You could have let the disease run its course, avenge an injury"

"Above all, I am a doctor, Kirsash. I must heal others, even if they were an enemy. Anyways, we had walked on your territory unknowingly. Of course you felt threatened."

"Still, I am thankful." She truly was. The disease that McCoy had saved her from had wracked her body, killing her from the inside out, so damaging that she had started to cough blood. McCoy had recognized the disease immediately as one that had been eradicated from Earth centuries before and had cured her quickly once on the ship. That was one of the reasons why she had stayed; she had a debt to repay and she would stop at nothing to pay it back. McCoy suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

"Tell me about your home."

This choice of subject surprised Kirsash and she began hesitantly. "Oh, um. It's green. Very green. There are so many trees everywhere that when you look up at times, you cannot see where the sun is in the sky. We lived in the trees; well, our houses were built along the branches. I... spent little time outside, but whenever I could, I would run from tree to tree, sometimes running for hours without touching the floor of the forest."

McCoy smiled. It was the ghost of his usual smile, but not because of fear, more because of fatigue. "No wonder you miss plants. Tell me a story of when you lived on your planet."

Kirsash smiled as she realized that he was trying to both pass the time but also learn more about the most alien member of the crew. Of course, she complied, telling him of how she had once snuck out of her house in the middle of the night and had spent four days on her own, watching the lives of other Felixians. Kirsash didn't mention that she had done so because her father had taught her nothing of the peasantry, deciding to teach herself about their very different lives.

Around ten minutes later, Kirsash looked at McCoy's eyes to see if the pupils had reduced in dilation. They had, but they were nowhere near their regular size. "How do you feel?"

"Well, I don't feel that I'm going to be sucked out into space at any moment, but I know that I'm not fully normal yet. I think I should take another dose." McCoy saw that Kirsash was going to argue with him, make him wait, so he stopped her before she spoke, "We need to be sure that the dose will be sufficient enough to affect the crew. Now dose me!"

Kirsash jumped and her ears immediately flipped back at his harsh tone but grabbed one of the hypos quickly and filled it with another dose of the hormone. After he balled his hand into a fist, McCoy gave her one small nod and she injected the hypo into the same vein.

Kirsash knew she would have to wait another ten minutes to see if it had worked, but she didn't want to speak about her planet anymore. She worried that the doctor would start asking her about her life there, but he seemed to have closed his eyes to rest momentarily. Kirsash took this time to take the towel off of his forehead and put it to dry in the bathroom. His eyes were still softly closed when she walked back in the room, so she went to go check on the patients. All of them were still sedated, but a few of them were sitting in very awkward positions, so she rearranged them as best she could. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that one of the shelved PADDs had started blinking a red light. Thinking that this might not be a good sign, she gently took the PADD and brought it back to Dr. McCoy.

He opened his eyes slightly when she walked in and she could tell already that he was feeling better. He was less pale than earlier and when she sat down, she saw that his pupils had shrunk in diameter considerably. She handed the PADD over to him.

He turned it on and looked at the charts. Concern suddenly crossed his face, "This isn't good."

"What's wrong?"

"V'ron's adrenaline levels have shot up. She shouldn't be affected by the fear hormone, it can't seep through her skin. And why the hell is she on the bridge?"

All of a sudden, the adrenaline levels increased again and McCoy almost jumped out of the bed. Thankfully, Kirsash was fast and strong, so she was able to force him back onto the bed. "Where do you think you're going?"

"With her adrenaline levels this high, she could injure many people if she isn't contained. I have the code to restrain her strength so that it would be equal to her size, so I have to go put it in."

Just then, a crash sounded overhead. This was impressive, seeing that they were a few decks below the bridge. McCoy's eyes shot back to the PADD and his fingers whipped across the screen to reveal another with a few graphs on it and what seemed to be a color code monitor. The graphs were fluctuating as they watched and the monitor changed to read 'code green'.

McCoy cursed. "Her combat settings are on for some reason, and Scotty's asleep so I-" Kirsash looked McCoy dead in the eye, silencing him with a glare. She was once again thankful that her anatomy could be fear-inducing enough to silence most Terrans. "Whatever is happening, you should not be there in your state. Lie down and calm yourself, or I will make you. I know Veron the best and I can promise you that whatever is going on, she's not tearing the crew apart as we speak." At least, she hoped she wasn't.

McCoy rolled his eyes, which Kirsash found reassuring. He was getting close to his regular self. "That's definitely making me feel calm.

A few more crashes sounded from above but suddenly they stopped. About a minute later, Kirsash's comm. beeped. She answered it and was informed by Uhura to head to the transporter room, under Spock's orders. Kirsash responded that she would be there immediately and turned to McCoy, "Whatever that was, it stopped now. I think that the two doses will be enough. Will you need any more help taking these to the sprinkler system?"

McCoy shook his head, "No, I'll be fine. Go," and rose gently to go to the medical cabinet, grabbing the hormones and placing them in a bag. After Kirsash was sure that he could stand by himself, she ran to the transporter.


	9. Chapter 9

When Kirsash arrived at the transporter, Spock was behind the control panel. He must not have been able to find gloves, as he had placed his hands in his sleeves to be able to touch the panel without getting the hormone on his skin. Spock turned his head when she entered.

"Ms. Solaris, forgive the urgency, but I must send you over to the Corinthian ship immediately."

Surprised was an understatement of Kirsash's reaction to the information that a Corinthian ship was near them, but she schooled her features. "That's quite alright, Mr. Spock. I've studied the files diligently. I'm sure that I will be able to do this on my own."

"Excellent. I will beam you out as soon as I get the coordinates."

Kirsash walked to the circles on the floor that marked where she should stand. "Are they aware that I am arriving on their ship?"

"Affirmative. Uhura contacted them after I incapacitated the Captain."

Before Kirsash could even process what he had said, Spock had started to beam her onto the other ship. When she got back, she was going to force Spock to explain what had happened on the deck. She just hoped that Veron was alright.

Back on the ship, Spock left the transport room and locked it, heading to the cell where he had ordered Veron to go to so that he could speak to her.

* * *

Once Kirsash had left, McCoy had placed all of the hormone capsules in a bag that he would be able to carry to the water container that fed the sprinkler system. He hoped that it would be enough for the entire crew, but there was nothing else he could do; there were no more hormone vials and he was running out of time.

The sprinkler system was set up throughout the entire ship, so he was sure that everyone would get a dose, and with luck, it would be enough. Those who were not yet affected would only become happy and those who were affected by the fear would return to normal. The only issue now was how he was going to get access to the water that would be expelled by the sprinklers. He had neither the access codes nor the knowledge of where the water container was, other than it being on one of the engineering decks. Worried that another dose of dopamine might bring him back to his fear induced state, McCoy donned a hazmat suit and headed toward the lift, hoping that he would get lucky and find the water container.

Luck was on his side because the lift opened to reveal Veron. He knew she had a map of the ship downloaded into her memory banks and she was strong enough that she could force the container open.

"V'ron, bring me to the water container of the sprinkler system."

"I can't. I've been ordered by Spock to-" Veron started to explain, but McCoy cut her off.

"You're coming with me, or the rest of the crew is damned. To hell with that green-blooded hobgoblin!" McCoy was tired of Spock and time was of the essence. He would deal with Spock later.

Veron looked like she wanted to argue, but she saw the steely look in his eye and just shrugged. She told the lift to bring her to the second level of engineering. McCoy immediately stepped out, only to be attacked by a startled, fear-crazed crew member. Veron moved forward to protect McCoy, but he reacted quicker.

The deranged crew member took a few sloppy swings which McCoy dodged and countered with a swing of his own. His met its target, effectively breaking his opponent's nose and causing him to stagger backwards, hitting the back wall of the corridor. McCoy seized the opportunity and grabbed the man by the scruff of his shirt before slamming him into the opposite wall. Winded, the crew member fell to his knees. McCoy then deftly struck a pressure point in his neck, knocking him out. He rolled the man into the recovery position by the lift so that the medical teams could easily find him. Once McCoy was sure that the crew member was incapacitated, he moved forward. Veron was so shocked at McCoy's hidden fighting skills and speed that she stood there for a few seconds longer, staring at the unconscious body. When she noticed that McCoy had kept walking, she ran after him.

"Dad, where did you learn to do that?" She asked.

"When your roommate is an idiot that has such a big mouth that he pisses everyone off, including a Vulcan, you get used to being dragged into fights." Veron wanted to laugh at the fact that McCoy had been roommates with Kirk, but instead focused on leading McCoy to the heart of the sprinkler system.

McCoy was glad that he had run into Veron because he would have never found it on his own. It was such a maze down there that he was shocked the engineers ever found their way up to the mess hall. When he reached the container, he asked Veron to open the top so that he could pour the hormone in the water. Veron wedged her fingers in the seam of the metal and, with a mighty heave, ripped off the top of the container entirely. When she saw that McCoy didn't need her help anymore, she turned to leave. She was going to be late for an 'appointment'.

McCoy noticed Veron leaving the room. "Where do you think you're going?"

Veron paused and McCoy grabbed a PADD out of the backpack. He quickly set a code and waited for a ping to respond back. "There, I should have done that earlier. Now, where are you going?"

"The holding cell. I am officially placed under arrest."

Before McCoy could react and ask why, Veron had already disappeared into the corridor. McCoy grinded his teeth and focused on the task at hand. He added the hormone to the water. He was going to have a talk with Kirk after to find out what had happened on the bridge.

McCoy quickly finished his task and went to one of the control panels, hoping that his medical override could start the sprinkler system. He punched in the code and left to go make sure that the hormone had the right effect on Kirk. Barely five seconds later, the entire crew had their first communal shower.


	10. Chapter 10

So, it's going to be angsty in this chpt. Sorry guys. Hope you're enjoying it so far!

* * *

"What? What was I supposed to do?" Veron exclaimed.

"Not baiting him would have been a good start. Avoiding traumatizing the crew would have been even better." Spock quipped.

"Smart-ass," Veron huffed, crossing her arms.

"I fail to see how my-"

"**Shut up**! I didn't mean it like that and you know it!" Spock had a ghost of a smile on his face as he watched one of the most terrifying creations in the universe pout like a chastised child. Although that was exactly what she currently was. Because of her little show on the bridge, she was officially placed under house arrest in a transparent cell - much like the one Khan had been kept in - with nothing but a chair to sit on until the Captain came to and decided what to do with her. Spock knew he wouldn't dare dismantle her; for one, that would be considered murder, not to mention that Scotty would probably kill the Captain himself. But one possibility was to place her on autopilot for an indefinite period of time; perhaps forever - Kirk was always a little bit on the dramatic side. But drama aside, what she had just done was considered an act of treason, even if it was for the good of the crew.

On the other side of the glass, Veron had been thinking about Kirk's words on the bridge. The more she pondered them, the more she came to a revelation: she was a machine. She had been aware of this before, but now that fact hit her like a ton of bricks. She was expected to act like a machine and not like a person. Everything that had been human had been shed away; even her emotions were artificial. Nothing but her brain was hers. She didn't know if she could ever truly love or be loved in this form; perhaps that was why she referred to her two creators as 'mom' and 'dad'. But they too seemed to brush her off, unless it had to do with upgrading her system and making sure she was functioning normally. Why was she even here then? Just to protect the crew? She would die - again - for them, of course, but that was her primary function. Did any of them even value that, she wondered.

It hurt to think about it, and she realized that she couldn't even physically express her sadness. There was no lump in her throat or teary eyes that signified that she could use to show the pain she felt inside. She could feel it though, as intense and judgement-skewing as it always was.

Spock thought about the logical thing to do as he watched his charge's sobering features after she fell silent. Logic stated that she must be placed on autopilot. Yet, as much as he didn't like to admit it, the young human had grown on him. She had been an intelligent student, diligent, clever (sadly, just as clumsy), and resourceful; she learned everything she could from him. He felt guilty that she had died under his command, on a mission that he had asked to lead. He was Vulcan, and as such, he should follow logic, but he was also Human. He would do whatever he could to make sure that she stayed "alive". He was not keen on reliving the experience of having a student die in front of him.

"So," Veron started, jolting Spock out of his memories. "What d'you think the Captain will do with me?"

"I will talk him out of anything unpleasant," Spock stated, joining his hands behind his back as per his usual stance.

Veron blinked, her eyebrows shooting up. "Really? That's the last thing I'd expect to hear from you." Spock chose not to reply to that, and he didn't have to either because it was at that moment that the door at the other end of the room slid open and Kirk strode in, his hair and clothes completely soaked through, with a dry McCoy tailing him. Spock realized that it was McCoy who had set off the sprinkler system, effectually negating the fear hormone for those that had been affected. He would commend him at a later time, when he didn't look so furious.

"Jim, I swear to God- If you deactivate her, I will make sure you are stuck in the med bay with me for at least a week! Scratch that, a month! And I will use every hypo I own on you!" McCoy was yelling as he tried to get in-between the android and the captain. Kirk merely stepped around him and came face-to-face with the E.L.A.N.I. unit. She sat cross-legged in a chair in the center of the cell, one elbow resting on her knee and her hand propping up her head. Her violet lenses were trained on his own eyes, and given that she didn't need to blink, it was quite eerie. Spock stood just in front of the cell, eyes trained on Kirk, who nodded somewhat begrudgingly to the Vulcan. He was not going to forget that nerve pinch for a while.

"I hope you realize how cooperative I'm being right now because - as you saw on the bridge - I could easily smash through this... I don't actually know if this is glass or not, but whatever." Veron said, still staring at the captain with a bemused expression on her face. He knew she was trying to make herself seem like she was there on her own terms and it reminded him of himself, but he had to be the Captain at that moment.

"No you can't," Kirk replied coldly. "McCoy put the safety restriction's back on so you can't destroy anything else."

"He did?" Veron remembered McCoy stopping her before she had left for the cell and his actions made sense now. "Well crap, never mind then." Veron sat up straight then. "So, Dad," McCoy flinched visibly at the scalding tone used, "did Mom give you the shutdown key or something?"

"No one's shutting anything down," McCoy insisted, glaring meaningfully at Kirk.

"Only because I'm the most successful example of both brain transplant surgery and digital-to-neural data transformations," she shot back. "What does it matter if I'm shutdown? It's probably better for the crew anyway - I probably mentally scarred a few of them in the state they were in when I was exposed as a robot."

Spock glanced at her, eyebrows slightly lowered. What was she doing? Did she want to be shut down? "You did what was necessary to diffuse the situation to the best of your capabilities," he stated, hoping to clarify this point to Kirk.

Veron ignored him. "I threw the Captain across the bridge; that alone could have killed him since I don't know my own strength yet."

"Although your actions were somewhat outlandish, you have avoided-" She turned her gaze to Spock, cutting him off in mid sentence.

"I'm a risk to the crew because I'm as unpredictable as any human but with the destructive capabilities of an entire military Starship." Then her eyes found those of McCoy. "The most logical and productive thing would be-"

"I said no one's shutting anything down, damn it!" McCoy yelled.

"Why not? I wouldn't feel a thing; the Autopilot's more efficient anyway. I'm not afraid - my emotions are all false, so really, I can't actually feel anything," She concluded, falling silent once more, her eyes once again locked with Kirk's.

McCoy didn't have to have his monitor with him to know that she believed what she had said. He was speechless. He hadn't at all realized that her mental adjustment to her new situation was this bad. Then again, he hadn't seen what had happened on the bridge when she had been revealed as a machine but he deduced that with the crew in their hormone induced terror that it had to have been pretty bad. To not be accepted for what you truly are... Poor thing must feel like a blight on life, he thought.

Kirk hadn't spoken at all during her explanation and his expression was unreadable. Finally, he spoke.

"E.L.A.N.I. - no, Carter - I'm here to apologise for exposing you like that in front of the crew - top secret or not, that wasn't my decision to make. You were right, I wasn't in my right mind and thanks by the way for not throwing me hard enough to kill me. We need to keep you awake. It's true that the Autopilot is a better machine, but I need a soldier, someone who will be able to make the call about whether what she is doing is right. I'm not encouraging you to ignore my orders, but you did just prevent a full-scale war. We still need you because we need those destructive capabilities of yours to help defend the Enterprise, but we also need your mind. We'll take you, if you'll have us. Please, Carter."

Veron sat there silently for a moment, her face devoid of all emotion; she could have been mistaken for the Autopilot if it wasn't for the fact that her eyes were still purple. "I accept," she said quietly, breaking eye contact. "Thank you Captain."

Kirk nodded, giving her a small grin. "Good. We have some trade relations to discuss; let her out," he called to the security technicians in charge of the holding cell. The cell was opened and Veron stood, slowly walking out. Dr. McCoy approached her first. He wasn't at all satisfied with the way things were turning out but he'd talk to the bluenette later.

"Alright, squirt, you need a disinfectant bath so you don't spread the hormone to anyone else by accident," he said, putting on rubber gloves in case he needed to drag her to the disinfectant - her safety restrictions were on and she was nearly an entire foot shorter than him, so it wouldn't be too hard to do so.

Veron scowled at her nickname. "Excuse me? Squirt?"

"You heard me. Move it." McCoy almost felt like he was talking to Joanna again when she had been five years old.

"Do I have to?" She whined, imperceptibly edging her way back towards the cell. Or so she thought, until Spock stepped directly into her path.

"It is imperative to begin discussions as soon as possible, but I must confess, the tediousness of physical hygiene has been observed to be difficult to enforce on human children," Spock quipped. "As seems to be the case with you, although you are not a child or physically human anymore."

"Hey!" Veron snapped. "It's different for you; you take a bath in nice warm water! I get to be scrubbed with freaking citric acid. It makes me smell all fruity for days and it sucks! Then I get to be rinsed by actual water that is boiling hot. And from not one, but multiple pressure hoses, mind you, because SOMEONE didn't hardwire me to operate while being completely submerged in water!"

"You can yell at them later, squirt. We need to get that hormone off of you. This one's gonna be special though; you get an enzyme scrub." McCoy said, putting as much false enthusiasm in his voice, placing a hand on the unit's shoulder and steering her out the door. If McCoy seemed to be more gentle with his movements than previously with the young woman, Spock made no comment.

"Oh goody. And stop calling me that!" Veron turned around and stuck her tongue out, "You suck, Dad! And you fail at coming up with nicknames," Veron yelled as she stormed down the hallway away from them.

McCoy turned back to Kirk before following her to the medical unit. "Jim, you can be an asshole, but there are these moments when you truly impress me."

Kirk looked offended. "Hey, I am smart, you know!"

"Judging from your overall demeanor and method of handling first impressions, it is relatively effortless to assume otherwise," Spock countered. "Are you sure you weren't trying?"

McCoy shook his head incredulously and went after the android, leaving what appeared to be an amused Spock and an incredibly insulted Kirk. He could see Veron's blue hair waiting alone by the lift and he went to join her. They had some things to discuss.


	11. Chapter 11

Kirsash arrived on the Corinthian ship and she was suddenly incredibly thankful to her father's rigorous diplomatic training that he had enforced of her or she would have screamed in fright at the sight of the Corinthians. She was also glad that the fear hormone was out of her system, because she might have died.

The Corinthians looked like walking human skeletons with skin tightly wrapped around them. It was as if a human body had all of the water sucked out of it. The black robes that they wore did nothing to diminish the fear; in fact, it enhanced it quite a bit. But more terrifying than their bodies were their eyes. They were completely black, shiny and beetle-like, with the skin around the eyes black as well, giving the appearance from a distance that they had hollow eye sockets. She had read in the files that they were horrific-looking creatures, but she had never imagined that they would be so terrifying.

Kirsash swallowed her fear and stepped off the beaming pad, walking forward one step and then bowing, just as the file had told her to do. She stayed in that position until she heard one of the Corinthians step forward and felt them do the same. As they both started to stand up straight, Kirsash felt a presence trying to enter her mind. The Corinthian in front of her tilted its head, as if it was asking for her permission. She nodded slightly and felt the presence start to enter her mind.

She was surprised by how shy and unintrusive the Corinthian was, but she still felt scared; What would it see in her mind? What if she insulted it? To her great surprise, the Corinthian sent her feelings of calm, friendliness and a desire to learn more about her. Kirsash looked to the other Corinthians and realized that none of them had any sort of weapon on their person. She looked at their technology and even though it seemed advanced, there was nothing to indicate that they had weapons equipped to the ship. Kirsash realized that this species was incredibly passive and simply wanted to learn why the last explorers had been so violent to them.

Kirsash wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing, but she allowed the Corinthian to feel the fear she had felt when she first saw them. She then allowed the Corinthian to explore her more recent memories of fear, showing that it could engulf the logical mind and cause acts of violence in a desire to keep oneself alive. She didn't want to justify what the previous humans had done, but she tried to make their actions easier to understand. She felt something like a question come from the Corinthian. Fear. Was she afraid?

'No,' she thought, and it knew that she meant it. She wasn't afraid. She knew that they meant no harm to herself or the crew, so she had nothing to fear. The Corinthian presence in her mind pulled away. It then turned to the others, and after a minute, they all approached her. They all bowed to her at the same time and with all their thoughts combined, sent her feelings of gratitude and greater willingness for friendship. Kirsash couldn't help but smile as she bowed back to them in thanks.

* * *

Deep in Engineering, Veron was being hosed down in a special compartment with hot water. It was currently rinsing off the enzyme solution that was supposed to break down whatever hormone had gotten on her 'skin'. She was wearing a one-piece black swimsuit to expose her limbs so that the points where she could have potentially had the hormone on her were in contact with the solution. She had been in the process of rinsing for approximately 20 minutes and 17 seconds total. But who was counting? Certainly not her literal internal clock.

She pretended not to notice McCoy standing outside, scowling in her direction while he monitored the data feed on the room and chose instead to focus on her hands. She held them in front of her face. They looked like human hands, even the artificial skin looked real, although it was perpetually cold - yet another indication that she was not really alive. She closed her right hand and then flattened it. That was the hand that had snapped Sulu's sword. Then she focused on her left, which had thrown her captain across the bridge. She balled them both into tight fists. The machinery that she knew lay under her skin was very artfully crafted; if she didn't know better, they'd have just looked like human bones. But they weren't. And now everyone else knew it too.

She was startled out of her thoughts as she felt the pressurized jets power down, the scalding water trickling to a stop. The heat didn't bother her at all - it would have cooked any regular person - and it helped with the disinfection. She kept her head down as she waited for the plexiglass wall that served as a waterproof door to sink into the floor so she could step out. A blast of cool air greeted her when the glass was lowered. Veron stepped out of the 'shower' and took not three steps when she noticed a pair of black shoes in front her. Before she could look up questioningly, McCoy had already dropped the towel he had been holding onto her head, effectively covering her face with it. She reached up and dried her hair with it, only peeking out from under it when she heard him walk away.

He had seated himself on one of the tables and was watching her expectantly. At her glance, he beckoned her over with his head. She made her way to him slowly, with the towel still draped over her head.

"Good God, V'ron. At least dry yourself off properly," McCoy sighed exasperatedly. Veron just shrugged; it didn't matter if she was dry or not; It's not like she would catch a cold. She grabbed the black Starfleet undershirt and pulled it on over her swimsuit before wriggling into her blue uniform. She didn't bother to put shoes on and just hopped up onto the table behind McCoy, sitting back-to-back with him.

She felt him lean back against her slightly. "What's the matter, squirt?"

Veron sighed and looked down. She didn't talk for so long that McCoy thought she was never going to answer him but finally she spoke.

"Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why did you fight for me? It wouldn't have hurt." Since she was facing away from him, he couldn't see her expression, but he knew she was referencing what had happened in the holding cell.

McCoy looked up and sighed, "Call me a sentimentalist, but you remind me of Joanna, my daughter. She is such an amazing woman now and sometimes... well, I realize that I wasn't always there for her."

McCoy sat up straighter, "You are not Joanna, I know that, but I still want to help you. You may have lost your human body, Veronica, but you still have your mind. You knew that what the Captain was asking you to do was wrong and you stood your ground. Even as a human, if you had been placed in the same situation, I know you would have made the same call."

"Ironic," Veron murmured. "Had I been human, I would most definitely have not been placed in the same situation under any circumstances."

McCoy ignored her and closed his eyes, "When I saw them bring your body in here when it was destroyed, I could barely register it. No child should have to die from wounds like that." He paused to take a shaky breath. He could see it again, the emergency team dashing in from the transporters with a stretcher in between them, the fatal wounds that had been inflicted upon the girl which had burned away nearly half of her body, his desperate attempt to come up with any crazy idea to keep her alive... "I knew I would stop at nothing to try to save you. You were too young, V'ron, far too young to die. All of us, even Spock, would have done anything to have saved your human body, but that was gone. Your life wasn't. Maybe it wasn't our decision to make, but I will never think I wasn't right to save your life."

They sat in silence, back to back with each other for a few minutes. The girl in the machine felt like crying, screaming, curling up into a ball until no more tears could fall. But the machine didn't have any tears to cry in the first place. Veron settled for turning sideways and tentatively inching her hand over so her pinky wrapped around his. Sometimes she felt like she barely knew this man, yet she called him 'dad' because he was one of the closest things she had to family right now. He saw her for what she really was: a child trapped in the body of a weapon. Finally, Veron laid her cheek against his back, "Dad? Can I ask a favor?"

"Shoot."

"Could I sleep? I mean, sleep like anyone else; no Autopilot while my brain is sleeping, my whole body just resting, if we can still call it that. Can you do that or do I have to wait for Mom to wake up?"

McCoy chuckled, "I can do it. Just lay down. I'll wake you up if anything serious happens, like, say, the ship blows up."

Veron rolled her eyes as she hopped off the table and placed herself comfortably on the bed that Scotty sometimes used if he ever worked late this far in Engineering. "Ha ha, Dad. You're so funny." She drawled sarcastically as she watched McCoy dial in some sequence into the PADD she knew was used specifically to monitor her status. He dramatically pressed a blinking button that popped up on screen.

"Done," he announced, smiling down at her. "You are free to sleep."

Veron sighed and allowed her eyes to slowly slide shut. "One more thing," she said, eyes still closed.

"Yeah?"

"Would you... stay until I fall asleep?" Veron felt like kicking herself. She was seventeen for crying out loud but she felt like a little girl again after all the events that happened today.

McCoy only chuckled. "Sure, squirt," he said as he seated himself on the edge of the bed.

"I'm sorry I broke Mom."

"That's alright, squirt. He's a tough one; he'll be in here yelling at you himself for that once he recovers." Veron smiled a little at that.

"Tell him I want those upgrades when I wake up," she mumbled, beginning to drift off.

"Sure thing."

"And I'm never going up to the bridge again."

"I can't make any promises, but I'll threaten Jim with Andorian shingles if he tries to bring you up anytime soon."

Veron nodded gratefully. She could still see the judging stares of the bridge crew after she revealed what she truly was. She didn't think she could face any of them ever again.

"Also..." she trailed off. "Nevermind, I forgot."

McCoy laughed softly. "Go to sleep, V'ron."

"Uh-huh... Thanks, Dad," she mumbled. He sat there in silence for a few minutes to make sure she was asleep. There were no telltale signs of her being asleep, no deep breathing, relaxing muscles or twitching eyelids. He gazed at her somberly before he finally stood to leave. As he turned the lights off, a small "You're welcome," echoed in the room before the door slid shut behind him.


	12. Chapter 12

On the Corinthian ship, Kirsash had been communicating with the peaceful species, learning about the planet that they originated from and trying to figure out how they were going to continue the trade agreements with her Captain. She had tried speaking to them outloud but had learned that they were "deaf", since they solely communicated through their minds. She was fascinated with this new species that she hadn't heard comm. beep the first time. When it beeped again, the Corinthian that she had been communicating with left her mind so that she might speak to whomever was calling in privacy.

"Kirsash speaking."

"Ms. Solaris, is everything going well?" She heard the monotone voice of Spock over the comm.

"Yes, it's going very well. The Corinthians are anything but hostile and wish to enter further in trade discussions."

"The Captain will be in the transporter room shortly. We will have to begin the discussions there as the conference rooms are still not dry yet."

Kirsash smiled, knowing that McCoy must have been successful in saving the crew if the entire ship was wet. She felt something funny in her stomach at the thought of the doctor and decided that she would have to eat when she got back on the ship. He body was reacting in a strange manner.

"Copy that. However, Spock, you might want to warn the Captain that the Corinthians are quite... fearsome-looking, as well as telepathic. It will prevent any misunderstandings once I bring the Corinthians aboard."

"Understood. I will caution the Captain before the arrival of the envoys. Please be ready to beam in five minutes. Over and out." Kirsash shut and stowed the comm. into her belt, reaching out to the nearest Corinthian mind.

'Where is your leader?' She put into thought.

'We have no leader. The idea of one person leading us all is foreign to us. We do have our two elders aboard, whom we look to for guidance.' It explained to her mind. It was odd to be communicating with the Corinthian in vague thoughts. She was so used to staying things in sentences that it took her a few minutes to fully understand what was being expressed.

'Bring me to them, please.' She communicated back and followed the Corinthian as it brought her to the two Corinthians that were dressed in the oldest looking robes she had ever seen. The ends were frayed and tattered, but what truly showed their ages were their minds. She could not comprehend their age, but she felt it in her core. They had seen galaxies die in their lifetime. They made her feel so young and foolish.

They reassured her of their good impressions of her and once she asked them if they would follow her to her ship, agreed eagerly, seeming to want to know more about her crew. They left her mind and brought her to the transport area. She had just enough time to worry about the Captain's reaction to the Corinthians before the light of the beam started to engulf her and bring her back to the Enterprise.

* * *

To Kirsash's great surprise, the diplomatic discussion went well after Kirk's initial shock at the sight of the Corinthians. They had been able to establish an agreement Corinth 5 would become a place for shore leave in that quadrant and in return, the Corinthian's would simply gain knowledge and protection from Starfleet. There was no need for any supplies, as Corinth 5 was a well supplied planet, but the Corinthian's yearned to learn more about the rest of the universe. They had been isolated for so long, they had thought there was no other form of lift. Kirsash left the three hour discussions feeling satisfied but exhausted.

Keeping true to her word, she had forced Spock to explain what had happened on the bridge with Veron once the diplomatic treaties had been signed. Worry for her friend's well being grew as Spock relayed the discussion that they had held in the holding cell. She had no idea that Veron had been feeling that way. She wanted to go find her and was informed that she should ask McCoy to bring her to her fellow crew-mate.

She decided to head to the medbay first, hopefully finding McCoy there. Just as she prepared to leave, one of the Corinthian delegates stepped forward and asked if it might follow her to understand more about the ship. Kirsash nodded and led the way to the medical bay.

McCoy looked just as exhausted as Kirsash felt when she entered the room but seemed to be happy when she walked in. His eyes widened when he saw the Corinthian behind her but relaxed when he noticed that Kirsash seemed accustomed, even happy, in their presence.

"Congratulations, Doctor. Will we have to bear with a large ego for a month?"

McCoy laughed a genuine laugh and Kirsash thought that she would definitely have to get some food soon or sleep, because her stomach did an odd flipping motion. "No, unlike Kirk, I am aware that I was simply fulfilling my job and do not need legions of admirers to know that I did well." He pointed at the Corinthian with his head. "Who's your friend?"

"This is one of the Corinthian delegates. They do not seem to have names, but they can distinguish each other through their minds. They are telepaths, so if you want to talk to him, he will have to access your mind."

McCoy seemed to be a little uncomfortable at the thought, but Kirsash realized that McCoy allowed the Corinthian in his mind because he suddenly looked at Kirsash in amazement. "Incredible."

The Corinthian suddenly made a small bow then left the room. Kirsash was wondering where he was heading and started to follow it, McCoy only two steps behind her. It seemed to know where it was going, because it entered the lift with no hesitancy and they descended with them to the engineering deck that Kirsash knew to house Veron's repair station. It found its way to where Veron was lying down.

Kirsash looked once again at the immobile form and was terrified for a moment because she thought that her friend had been turned off, or even worse, turned herself off. Kirsash quickly looked at McCoy with worry for her friend written plainly on her face.

One side of McCoy's mouth quirked up and he shook his head slightly, "It's not what you think. She wanted to sleep without the Autopilot. She's had a rough day, so I thought I could at least give her that little bit of comfort."

A PADD on the workbench started flashing. McCoy reached for it and saw that the graph that monitored Veron's brainwaves was informing him that she was starting to wake up. McCoy moved to shake her awake, but the Corinthian slowly extended its arm out to prevent him from approaching her body. "What's going on?"

Kirsash took his shoulder and pulled him back gently, "I think he is speaking to her. He might have seen something in your mind or in mine that made him want to communicate with her."

"He won't hurt her?" McCoy looked to Kirsash.

She shook her head and gave him a soft smile, "No. You felt how peaceful they are. I think he just wants to help her."

In Veron's mind, she was still in her dream-state. She had flitted from one nightmarish dream to another, always feeling lost and unwanted, feared. She felt a presence in her mind and felt relieved by how warm it was. It seemed hesitant to gain too much information from her, rather allowing Veron to give it some information. It seemed to be asking her why she felt sad.

"I'm not sad, I just... don't know why I exist. My body died and my mind was saved. I am a force of destruction. I hurt those around me. I shouldn't exist." Unknowing of the presence's external origins, she began to replay memories of her final moments before her death and her initial moments after her rebirth. She could remember every vivid emotion, the terror and searing pain as her body burned away and the muddled limbo she existed in before she awoke. She showed snippets of her new life up until her stunt on the bridge, which she focused in on, and her pep talk with the doctor.

The presence radiated understanding, soothing her as it started to show her images of those whom she was closest to: Kirsash, McCoy, Scotty, Spock, Chekov, her Captain, and more, the images of her crew, her ship. It seeped these images with feelings of thankfulness, of protection. She protected them. She had not been built to destroy, but to protect those she cared about most.

Just as she was beginning to accept this, the presence started to leave her mind. She wanted to follow it and ask it more questions, but as she did, she started to wake up. She was greated with the most terrifying sight in her life that she thought her dreams had shifted into a dark nightmare, but saw two figures behind the skeleton-like creature. She focused her sight and realized that it was Kirsash and McCoy, standing only a few feet away, watching her with care and worry in their eyes. She quickly backed away from the creature, thinking that this was a horrible prank and that she would get back at them later.

Kirsash stepped forward, "Veron, I'm so glad you're awake. I would like you to meet one of the Corinthians. He... she... um, it is pleased to make your acquaintance and hopes that you will be feeling better in the future."

Veron felt her head nodding slowly and saying a quiet thank you. She saw Kirsash look at the Corinthian, who bowed back to her and then slowly left the room. She turned to McCoy, "Okay, what poor sucker did you stuff in that suit? That was terrifying."

McCoy smiled gently, "Don't be silly. That's really a Corinthian. They are telepaths. It seemed that it wanted to come and talk to you, so we just followed it."

"It knew I was here!" Veron squeaked.

Kirsash nodded as she sat down next to her friend, her tail wrapping around her knees in comfort to the surroundings. She still remembered her recent adventures in this area of the ship. "I think it might have read in my mind that I was worried about you. Spock explained what happened when I got back. I would have come earlier, but the discussions took longer than I thought they would." Concern clouded Kirsash's eyes, "Are you alright?"

Veron sighed in resignation and scooted closer to Kirsash and then rested her head on her older friend's shoulder, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"That bad, huh?" Kirsash murmured as she slowly returned the hug, placing her head over her friend's in a silent sign of comfort. The feline realized that it would take some time before her friend would feel confident in herself again, but she was sure that she and everyone close to her would help each other. She turned to McCoy,

"What will we do when the crew finds out about Veron?"

McCoy shook his head and a rueful smile was placed there, "They won't find out, at least for now."

Veron sat up straight, "But the bridge crew..."

McCoy waved his hand as if to shoo away that thought, "Spock and the Captain agreed that if any of those present were to expose this secret, they would be court-martialed and then marooned, although I think Kirk was exaggerating on the last bit."

"The Captain did that?" Veron asked incredulously. She thought that he would have let her deal with crew as punishment for her insubordination.

"He's many things, squirt, but he ain't a fool. The E.L.A.N.I. project is still considered classified. He'll make sure that it is kept under wraps as best as possible." McCoy explained.

Veron felt happy at the thought of both Spock and Kirk protecting her secret, even if it was primarily in their interest to do so. She would be sure to thank Capt. Kirk later and maybe Spock; she had learned that it was useless to thank the second in command as he deemed it an illogical action the last 47 times she had thanked him. At least it made her feel better.

With Kirsash at her side, he tail swishing lazily, and McCoy standing and watching over her, Veron started to think that things were going to turn out alright. Even when Scotty hobbled in a few seconds later complete with his two broken ribs, twisted left knee and a look in his eyes that told her he would be verbally tear her apart for the next hour, Veron couldn't help but smile.

* * *

Thank you to those who have been reading this and we hoped that you have enjoyed. We are in the midst of writing a extension piece to this which will be finished hopefully not to long from this. It will be linked here when it is completed.


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